Dishonored 2: Happy Hour With Corvo Attano

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Let it be known that Adam Smith is my arch-enemy, and if his body is found floating in Manchester Ship Canal with a dagger in its back any time soon, you know who to blame. Unless you’re a police officer, in which case it was definitely his dog that did it.

The reason for my Smithsonian belligerence? There I was, doing my best not find out much about Dishonored 2 [official site] in order that I can go in blind, but he lobs a new trailer focusing on returning Dishonored 1 protagonist Corvo into the RPS work Slack and says he’s too busy to post it. Which means I have to. Which means I have to watch it. Which means I now known things about Dishonored 2. Which means I need to buy a dagger.

Here you go. Looks a bit good, doesn’t it?

More detail, more grime, maybe a bit more sense of Corvo as a person (bitter and wearier, but hopefully in more of a secretly soulful Geralt way than than a drab Adam Jensen one), and much more in the way of mysticism and magic.

I’m slightly in two minds about the latter – the Sandman Outsider sequences of Dishonored 1 were my least aspect of it, and though I don’t mind a bit of dirty magic to liven up my armoury I didn’t really need to know about its source. It certainly seems to be supporting some enticing-looking powers though, as well as bolstering some extremely spiffy art and graphics (presuming it can actually look like that in practice).

Dammit, Smith. I know far too much. I’ll make man-whale oil out of you for this.

Dishonored 2 is out November 11.

[Disclosure: former RPS Senior Scottish Correspondent Cara Ellison has done some words for it. I honestly don’t know which ones.]

19 Comments

Whilst the supernatural aspects were the least interesting aspect of the original (though I’m enthralled by The Outsider, even if it’s in such a way that I don’t actually want to know more about him), what was done with those elements in the DLC was brilliant. Delilah and her witches made for far more interesting foes and welcome rivals instead of simply ordinary henchmen hoping to take you down by sheer numbers. If that trend continues into the sequel as it seems it likely will, then I expect the supernatural stuff to be a highlight or at least a nice change of pace.

I still don’t understand : Corvo or Emily : is it a character that we pick at the beginning ? I doesn’t seem likely, due to some cutscenes ( like the full CGI one ), and i freaking hope they do some ballsy moves like killing Corvo at some point, revealing (without having to show everything) some stuff about the Stranger.
Also, as a beginner in the art side of the gaming industry, i can say that these games are goldmines of great design.

I laughed a little when Corvo growled “There’s no place for monsters in this world” while murdering like the fifteenth consecutive person in this two-minute trailer. It seemed very intentional, especially in light of some popular criticisms of the first game, and I really hope it was.

It looks great to me. Dishonored left a great impression on me. Not a stabby wound type impression mind you. After a while I began to wonder if my love for the game was the result of my first son being born the week before I started playing the game – in fact my first playthrough was done on my first week of Paternity leave. However, I since completed a couple more runs and remain convinced that it’s a true classic.

It’s weird to finally hear Corvo’s voice, I did think his lack of dialog in the first game was a wasted opportunity, and the whole “Mute Protagonist” convention should have ended with Half-life 2. Corvo voice actor, Stephen Russell has a wide range of credits, Garrett from Thief, Nick Valentine / Mr. Handy / Codsworth from Fallout 4. That’s some range!

I’m glad to see the art direction still includes some weird and interesting face designs. The animation of facial expression doesn’t look quite up to Witcher 3 level, but at least they’re interesting to look at. Kinda weird and disturbing, which is good.

I’m confused by seeing a few scenes with Corvo shown in 3rd person view. Are those just cut scenes, or does the game have a Fallout-style optional switch between first and third person view?

Man, the character design is insanely good. Every character looks so unique! In the witcher 3, after a while you could see the parade of stock heads and faces with different hairdo’s on top. This looks pretty great. I hope they don’t fuck up the writing.